Mario Caiano Movies

Director Mario Caiano, best known for the gorgeous horror film Amanti d'Oltretomba, made eleven Westerns in his career, but none as strange as this one. Perhaps it might help some to recall that the TV-series Kung Fu was enjoying great popularity at around the same time employing a similar East-meets-West theme. This film is much more grim and bloody, however, as it tells the tale of a Chinese man (Chen Lee) who travels to San Francisco in 1882. Looking for a better life, all he finds is scum -- racists, perverts, slavers, greedy conmen and mercenaries. Naturally, the gentle mystic must fight to find inner peace. Lee's major weapon -- aside from knives and lethal yo-yos -- is a devastating punch that rams all the way through his opponents' bodies. But that isn't the half of it. A cardshark gets his eyes gouged out in revolting detail, people are beaten to bloody pulp, and the villain of the piece (Klaus Kinski in a fascinating performance) is Scalper Jack, a mincing, sadistic bounty-hunter who tortures and skins his victims alive. A depressing and violent film, this exercise in bloodletting is powerful stuff and well-acted by a veteran cast including Giacomo Rossi Stuart, Claudio Undari and Gordon Mitchell, who also appeared in Caiano's Erik IL Vichingo. Adalberto Albertini made an unfortunate comic sequel the following year with Kinski (in a different role) and Lee. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Anna Maria Pierangeli (aka "Pier Angeli") stars in this confusing giallo thriller from director Sergio Bergonzelli. She and Eleonora Rossi Drago are incestuous mother and daughter maniacs in a gruesome story involving Nazis, flesh-eating vultures, decapitation, and -- worst of all -- Fernando Sancho in a bathtub. Pierangeli went on to make the dreadful American monster movie Octaman before committing suicide. Bergonzelli returned to the genre 18 years later with Delirio di Sangue.
~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Director Mario Caiano, best known for horror films like Amanti d' Oltretomba, co-wrote this much-parodied spaghetti western. Another in a long line of films titled for Lorne Greene's 1964 hit song "Ringo" this is one of many entries which fail to even feature a character with that name. Instead, Antonio De Teffe, Frank Wolff and Eduardo Fajardo star as three friends who rescue bumbling bandit Fidel (Armando Calvo) from a shootout. While patching him up, they discover half of a treasure map tattooed on his back. Learning that the other half is tattooed on the back of a sheriff (Alfonso Goda), the group sets about trying to put the two halves together. Many people die, and sole survivor Fajardo -- in a rare act of kindness from the genre's foremost villain -- donates the fortune in gold to a destitute village before riding into the sunset with pretty Alejandra Nilo. American director Paul Bartel put a bizarre spin on the story in his comedic western Lust in the Dust. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

This intriguing spaghetti western was co-directed by Jose Luis Borau and Mario Caiano. The story concerns a group of corrupt Tombstone officials who extort protection money from the town's citizens. When the sheriff attempts to interfere, they hire a hitman named Moody (Robert Hundar) to murder him then install a puppet sheriff in his place. Unfortunately for the villains, they choose the town drunk, Brandy (Alex Nicol), who sobers up enough to take the job seriously. With the aid of an ex-bandit (Antonio Casas) and the people of Tombstone, Sheriff Brandy takes down not only Moody, but the thuggish town bosses as well. Margaret Grayson, Jorge Rigaud, and Giuseppe Addobbati co-star, and prolific composer Riz Ortolani provided the soundtrack. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

In this high-seas adventure, a dashing pirate and his loyal crew take on a wicked king forced his way onto the throne with his own bad pirates. The newly empowered villain kidnaps the daughter of the deposed Duke and forces her into marriage. Fortunately, the good pirates attack on her wedding day. A long, bloody battle takes place while the palace women, including the bride take refuge in the dungeon. The conniving leader ruthlessly orders the dungeon flooded, but fortunately, the good pirate manages to save all the women, while the bad one finds himself impaled by his own booby-trap. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Nights of Lucretia Borgia and not her days in history are the openly seductive draw in this standard Italian costume drama with a rather weak storyline. Lucretia of the poisonous vial (Belinda Lee) lusts after the handsome swordsman (Jacques Sernas) who works for her nefarious brother Cesare. Lucretia's main problem, after her murderous inclinations, is how to snare the swordsman away from a gorgeous rival (Michele Mercier). This challenge is something that could promote a little sibling cooperation, since Cesare wants Lucretia's bewitching rival for himself. One of the more impressive aspects of this film is the music of Alexander Derevitsky played by the Rome Philharmonic Orchestra. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide